Nothing hits today’s web surfer over the head quite like a “page one” search listing. Despite the WOW! design that you may be envisioning for your website, consider that a majority of people navigate the world wide web via search engines—and search engines read HTML, not flash.

We’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating - what good is the slickest, most graphically appealing website if no one can find it?

Of course, this litmus isn’t the measure for everyone. If you don’t need to be found, then a pure or predominantly flash website may be a perfect platform for you. An example would be a site offering information or services to an existing client base. In this scenario, the source of visitors is set and new customers aren’t needed.

Otherwise, consider limiting the amount of flash on your site. And above all, DO NOT use an all flash splash page for your site. Search engines enter your site the way most visitors would, through your root domain (www.yourdomain.com) or homepage. If your site’s homepage consists of a flash file that presents the page content, then the search engine sees: _________________.

To be more precise, the meta infomation (keyword, description) will be seen, but may not account for anything. Search engine algorithms (the formula that calculates page relevance according to a search word or term) have long since stopped placing heavy value on meta data, given the higher likelihood that actual page content has more to do with page relevance than hidden fields.

So there you have it. Short and sweet. HTML provides a better impact on the site traffic bottom line than flash.

---

Applied Web Vitals is a web design and development company. Please feel free to contact us to explore your next design, redesign or site enhancement project.